Sword and Shield

Game On 5

Naofumi absently tapped his bicep, his arms crossed. He was leaning up against the wall, staring off into space as he and his party waited. He had caught up with his party and Alfyn when they were about to enter town. He could afford to rush his exit out of the swamp as he was practically invulnerable to the low level monsters in the area. When they had showed up at Zeph's doorstep the youth had almost broken down in his relief.

Zeph and Alfyn were sitting in a corner, close by the bedridden Nina, waiting as well. They had put the finishing touches on the All Purpose Antidote and had administered it over two hours ago. Now it was a waiting game, hoping that Nina showed improvement soon.

The two lifelong friends were talking to each other in hushed whispers. Considering the shocked glances Zeph had thrown him a little whole ago, Naofumi could guess what they were talking about. He didn't care what either of them thought of him, so long as Zeph kept his part of the bargain. And if he didn't… well, what happened next would be his own miserable self's fault.

Unnoticed as he brooded, Zeph had finished his conversation with Alfyn and had approached him, a delicate expression on his face.

"Hey."

"Yeah?" Naofumi looked up, eyes narrowed.

"I wanted to thank you for all that you have done," Zeph said. "Alfyn told me that you saved him and that he probably wouldn't have been able to take down the monster without your help. For protecting my friend and helping Nina, I don't think I will ever be able to put into words how thankful I am, but please except my thanks regardless."

Having said his piece, Zeph bowed his head to him and fell silent. He looked and sounded genuine even to the paranoid Naofumi, but he had thought the same of that woman at first as well. Naofumi wouldn't trust this youth not to stab him in the back that easily.

"Having said that, I wanted add a caveat to our deal…"

"Oh?" Naofumi straightened and approached Zeph, suddenly appearing domineering. "And what kind of caveat would that be?"

Zeph recoiled at the menacing aura Naofumi was releasing and raised his hands, hurriedly clarifying himself. The others in the room watched the interaction worriedly "Wait, do not get the wrong idea! I'll keep my end of the deal! I just want to make sure I don't get into trouble for teaching you!"

"Go on," Naofumi urged him to continue, relaxing a little, though still towering over Zeph.

Zeph gulped, but plowed ahead. "Your… okay, let me be blunt. You reputation in this country is shit. If people know I taught the Shield Hero, it might be enough to put myself and the people in my life in danger. To prevent that, I just want a promise from you that you will not tell anyone that I taught you. It would be better if no one realizes we know one another."

Naofumi raised a brow at him. "I've been coming and going from your house multiple times today. Is it not already obvious that we know each other?"

"Only to the people of this village. And I trust them not to rat us out."

"Really?" Naofumi questioned skeptically. He acutely remembered the reception he had gotten.

"Of course. As the town Apothecary, I know everyone that lives here, and most of them owe me more than a few favors. As long as I explain the circumstances, they will not snitch on us. I promise."

Naofumi remained skeptical, but eventually relented. He was the one that proposed this deal and he had more or less expected that his identity as the Shield Hero wouldn't remain secret for long. He had to at least try to get his reward. If he had to hold his paranoia back a bit, then so be it.

And if the town's people ratted on them to the country at large, than Zeph would be the one receiving the blowback and not him. He could live with that.

He would be keeping a hawk's eye on Zeph, though. The youth would pay the price at the first sign of treachery.

Naofumi stuck out his hand. Zeph took it, shaking it firmly and sealing the deal. There was no hesitation and the handshake was firm. Strangely, that allayed Naofumi's suspicions a little bit. Not by much, but a little.

"Hey, guys!" Alfyn called excitedly. Everyone turned to look. The blond was sat beside Nina, a hand on her forehead, a smile splitting his face. "Nina's fever just broke!"

There was a moment of silence. Then, a cheer rippled throughout the room.


After their foray into the swamp and battling the Blotted Viper the Shield Hero's party had retreated to their room at the Inn. Though none of them had been injured they were all exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally by their struggles throughout the day, so Naofumi had called it an early night and instructed his slaves to do the same.

The very next day they were back at it again, up bright and early. Building up a routine again with Riyute Village as their base, they headed out towards the surrounding areas. First the forest, then the mountain range and then they hit the swamp again. They systematically cleared out the monsters in all locations, butchering them for their parts and unlocking more and more shields. Repeated usage of the same parts from different monsters meant that these shields were quickly mastered.

By Naofumi's count they had added well over three hundred new mastered shields to his repertoire. None of them were anything special, but all the equip bonuses added up nicely to his Stats.

Late in the evening, when it started becoming dark, they would head back to the village. Naofumi would let his slaves play with their ball and the other village children, who luckily didn't seem to have any problem with demi-humans, while he headed to the Apothecary for his lessons. Both of them had made a friend in Nina, who had quickly recovered with no complications. Besides that, Zeph had so far kept his promise and was diligently teaching him. Alfyn regularly pitched in, apparently determined to do his part in rewarding Naofumi.

This state of affairs continued for about a week. The Medicines he had learned to make with the help of the Legendary Shield were apparently a wild mishmash on the scale of usefulness and difficulty to make, with even a few middling level Medicines mixed in, so Alfyn and Zeph had him start from the very bottom to create a solid base for him to work off of. With a few instructions from his teachers, he was quickly able to reproduce those low-level Medicines and concoctions at a high quality with relative ease, aided by his considerable high level Skill in compounding he had been cultivating from almost day one. He then sold those Medicines to Zeph for a generous price.

EXP. Shields. Money. Knowledge. Their continued work was paying dividends in a multitude of ways.

And neither, he found, was the work thankless.

Naofumi had noticed that the attitude of the villagers towards him had changed. It had already improved when the news had spread that it was because of him and his party that Zeph's little sister had been saved. That had been enough for them to treat him with dignity. But when he started hunting the monsters in the surroundings, the monsters that had been especially agitated lately for unknown reasons and, he later learned, were responsible for the damages to the village's outskirts, it was enough for them to treat him with actual, genuine respect.

Though he didn't trust these people not to turn on him at the first sign of trouble, it was a nice change of pace. Besides, he could take advantage of it while it lasted.

Currently, he was in their room at the Inn. Raphtalia and Shirou were sitting in a corner. Raphtalia was explaining something to Shirou, who appeared shocked, while Raphtalia appeared shocked and exasperated that Shirou was ignorant on whatever she was explaining. Not that he cared overly much what they were talking about.

"How can you not know…" Naofumi heard Raphtalia say, but didn't bother listening in. He had more important things on his mind.

Feeding his shield, for instance.

In front of him was a wide array of miscellaneous items laid down on the ground. Things like children toys all the way to essentials and other useless crap. Some of the villagers had wanted to thank him for all that he'd done for them. As your average villager, they didn't have much in the way of money to reward him, so instead he asked for something far more valuable in his case: random junk they no longer needed. After all, almost anything could be used to unlock shields.

He picked up one of the items, a length of rusted pipe, and fed it to his shield.

Requirement met: [Pipe Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 4 – Equip Bonus: [Shield Prison] (unmastered]

Shield Prison? What's that? He checked the Help Menu in his Status screen. Huh, interesting. A Skill that makes a prison made out of shields that can either be used to trap enemies or protect allies. Range is fifty meters, SP cost minimal, cooldown is ten seconds. How strong the shields are making up the prison is proportionate to his own Defense Stat (Shield Prison's Defense = Hero's Defense/10), so the Skill would grow stronger as he himself grew stronger. Neat.

This Skill alone was worth the trouble of asking for these items. He quickly changed his shield into the Pipe Shield. He'd noticed that the more shields he unlocked the less time it took to master them. It was probably a hidden Stat of some kind. Currently it would only take about three hours to master the Pipe Shield, which was down from the twelve hours it had first been, and make the Shield Prison Skill his own. In the meantime, he would continue what he had been doing. Naofumi absently picked up a length of rope and dropped it unto the green jewel set into his shield.

Requirement met: [Rope Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 2 – Equip Bonus: [Air Strike Shield] (unmastered]

Special Ability: Hook

Another Skill, huh? And a Special Ability on top of that. Lucky. He once again checked the Skill in his Help Menu. A shield made of air that can be conjured up anywhere within a ten meter radius around the user. SP cost was the same as the Shield Prison, but the cooldown was fifteen seconds, a whole five seconds longer. Air Strike Shield was considerably stronger than Shield Prison, though (Air Strike Shield's Defense = Hero's Defense/5), so he guessed everything evened out.

"GROWL"

Naofumi was about to feed another item to his shield, but paused when a loud growl echoed throughout the room. He looked up, exasperated, as he looked at his squirming, embarrassed slaves. Their stomachs had just growled in hunger in unison.

"Again, huh?" Naofumi grumbled. "Fine, let's stop for now and get some grub."

"Thanks, Naofumi-sama!" Raphtalia smiled widely. Shirou nodded.

Naofumi got up, privately grumbling to himself they'd last eaten less than two hours ago. Really, these two had been getting hungrier and hungrier lately. First Raphtalia, and then Shirou. And it wasn't something that had gradually built up. As if a flip had been switched, his two slaves had become utter gluttons, eating more and more at closer and closer intervals.

He didn't notice at the time, but looking back on it later he would kick himself when he'd realized that this started when his slaves' Levels surpassed their physical ages. Or the fact that his slaves later requested new, much bigger clothes. The fact that he did not realize even then was a testament to his less than open state of mind at the time.


The time had come. It was finally time to take a crack at the dungeon.

Apparently, the dungeon they were about to challenge used to be a well to do mine. It was rare, but certain places can be converted into dungeons when they were suddenly infested with monsters without warning. Through some eldritch means, the former ordinary locations become death traps where monsters could literally spawn out of the walls like mildew. There was no knowledge on how this happened and how it could be undone. That's why, even if the mine in front of them was long abandoned, it still held an abundance of minerals and materials they could mine. Besides the variety of monsters they were going to grind, this was the main reason they'd come here.

Naofumi was determined to get some. Both for his shield and the promise of greater profits.

"Okay, you two know the plan," Naofumi reiterated as they were about to enter the mine. "We'll first clear out the entire dungeon. After we finished exterminating all the monsters we'll mine as much ore as we can before heading back to Riyute Village. Depending on how long this takes, we might do this several times today. If you start feeling exhausted, immediately speak up. You two are no good to me dead on your feet."

"Okay, Naofumi-sama!" Raphtalia nodded, already having her knife out.

Shirou had similarly drawn his knife. "Will do, Master."

Naofumi held out a torch in his offhand and as always went first. Shirou and Raphtalia followed close behind.

The first part of the dungeon was a short tunnel supported by wooden beams, belying its roots as a mine. In the distance they could hear the sound of water, the sound of a distant waterfall spilling over the edge. The sound grew louder as they walked.

Naofumi absently checked the Apothecary satchel strapped to his side. It had been a gift from both Zeph and Alfyn, one of their spares. Now he had a convenient way to carry around the various Medicines and concoctions with him into the field. Moreover, with what Alfyn had personally taught him and had demonstrated the effectiveness off in advance, he now could contribute much more directly during battle. Naofumi absently patted the satchel, eager to test out his creations.

After a while, the tunnel opened up before them and they stepped foot in a large open area bereft of any structural supports. A soft light filtered in from above, piercing through a small hole in the ceiling of the mine. The room was massive with the ceiling suspended almost two dozen meters over their heads. The waterfall they had heard was right in front of them, feeding a river the disappeared down a tunnel to their right. The air was chocked with dust.

"Huh, where are the monsters?" Naofumi heard Shirou mutter behind him. The kid was right. Weren't dungeon's supposed to be chock-full with monsters? Contrary to what had happened, he had expected to meet their first opponent back in the tunnel.

Raphtalia tugged on his sleeve. "Naofumi-sama," she said and pointed deeper into the room, directing his attention to several puddles of blood and bones scattered throughout.

Naofumi's eyes narrowed. "Stick close," he ordered his slaves as they headed deeper. They inspected every puddle of blood and bones. The bones had been picked clean of flesh with only a light scattering of blood remaining. There was no conclusive evidence of what had happened, but…

…There were several paw prints in the puddles of blood. Naofumi imagined a particularly large dog. He heard Raphtalia whimper behind him, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

"Another monsters spawned by the wave?" he mused to himself. It was a possibility, not that it mattered overly much, but it was rather obvious that something big and nasty had taken up residence in the dungeon. Something that had been hunting the other monsters and feeding on them.

"What do we do?"

"We'll continue. We won't get anywhere if we always avoid danger," Naofumi said, getting up.

Privately, he just wanted to get rid of whatever this was so that they could make this dungeon their hunting ground. Besides that, the Blotted Viper had given him the most powerful shields he had ever gotten to date. Maybe this other monster would unlock equally powerful shields?

Naofumi was eager to find out.

They cautiously ventured in deeper and eventually found themselves near the top of the waterfall. It was hauntingly silent, until…

"GRRRR!"

It was a large, black dog, only it had two heads. And it was massive, easily a bit taller on all fours then the Blotted Viper had been. It's barrel chest swelled as it breathed through its chops, looking like it was about to burst. A whip-like tail swung behind it. It regarded them with hunger is it silently slinked out of the shadows in their direction.

[Otherworld Two Headed Black Dog Lv: 25]

If he hadn't had the experience with the Blotted Viper before, Naofumi was sure he would have hesitated more. As it was, he stepped forward, able to taste the fear in the back of his mouth, but his previous experience ensured that he didn't hesitate.

He was the party's wall. If he faltered, their entire formation would break.

"…Raphtalia?"

Naofumi heard Shirou question. He chanced a glance back, and to his dismay he saw Raphtalia looking of into a distant point in space. Her breath was shallow, her eyes distant and glazed, the grip on her knife slack as she trembled. Shit! This was just like when she was having her nightmares. There was no way she would be able to fight like that!

"Shirou! Snap her out of it! I'll distract the dog as long as I-"

"AWOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Two Headed Black Dog dashed towards them with an earsplitting howl. Sensing weakness by instinct, it targeted Raphtalia first.

Shirou took up a stance in front of the frozen Raphtalia, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Naofumi rushed in front of them, changing his shield into the form with the highest base Defense Stat, and dug his heels into the ground, bracing himself for the impact.

There was a thunderous impact as the Two Headed Black Dog slammed head first into Naofumi's Shield, the blast of air released by the impact ruffling his hair. His feet slid back, but he barely managed to hold his ground, even as the monster's two heads snapped at him, trying to get a grip on and tear into his flesh.

Ugh, it was so heavy, but Naofumi wouldn't buckle. He planted his feet firmly into the ground, took a deep breath and shoved the Two Headed Black Dog back a bit. That only bought him a second's respite, though. He needed longer if they wanted to get to the root of what was wrong with Raphtalia. Luckily, he had just the thing.

With a click his satchel opened, but the Two Headed Black Dog pounced once again, baring its fangs.

A round glass bottle with bright yellow powder was pulled from the satchel. A concoction taught to him by Alfyn, he flung it head on at the monster bearing down on him as he backed away.

The bottle hit the Two Headed Black Dog snout first, broke on impact, and the bright yellow powder glowed as it enveloped its target. The monster froze, static electricity dancing about its form, locking up its muscles and freezing it in its tracks. It had been Paralyzed.

"Quick, Shirou!"

Understanding what Naofumi wanted, Shirou grabbed the catatonic Raphtalia and turned towards the waterfall to their back. With Naofumi following in their wake, they jumped down, leaving the Two Headed Black Dog behind. For now.


"What the hell was that, Raphtalia! You can't just freak out on me like that!"

They had just pulled themselves free from the river. Luckily, the waterfall wasn't that high and the river was pretty deep, so all of them got out of it soaked but uninjured.

Raphtalia flinched at his yelling. Naofumi took a deep breath. Getting angry at her wasn't going to solve whatever was wrong. Besides that, Shirou was glaring at him as he supported Raphtalia, a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back. He had better calm down and solve whatever was wrong right now before it became a problem in the future. He'd rather not have a mutiny on his hands. If Raphtalia refused to fight and Shirou made it his problem if he forced the issue with the Slave Crest…

No, it was better to avoid that.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I'm sorry," Raphtalia stuttered, repeating her words and collapsing in on herself at Naofumi's angry yelling. She wasn't unresponsive anymore, but the haunted looked on her was little better. "I, I know have to fight, but my mind suddenly went blank, and…"

"What happened?" Raphtalia looked up at the sudden question. Naofumi stared back. "You probably have those nightmares of yours for the same reason, right? Spit it out."

"I, uh, I mean, is het now really the time?" Raphtalia muttered, shifty-eyed.

"It will take some time before the paralysis wears off and that dog can give chase," Naofumi assured. "Talk. We have time."

Raphtalia hesitated, but under the expectant gazes of Shirou and Naofumi, she opened her mouth and started to talk. "I am from a small village in this country where you can see the ocean..."


Once, there was a village by the sea.

It's a village full of demi-humans, a village of unfortunates in a country where they are second class citizens.

No one there was well off and life was hard. But everyone was friendly with each other and lived side by side peacefully.

Until that day. The day the sky went dark red and split open. Monsters that had never been seen or heard of before came spilling out by their thousands from the cracks in the sky, ravaging the lands and attacking everything in sight. The first Wave of Calamity told of in legends so long ago.

And, as fate would have it, the village of demi-humans was right at the center of the catastrophe. Before anyone knew what was going on, the demi-human village was entirely swept up in the waves of encroaching monsters.

In the chaos two parents, a loving father and mother, desperately tried to get their daughter to safety. But fate was cruel that day. Pursued by skeletal warriors, zombies and gigantic insects, led by a massive Three Headed Dog, they quickly found themselves trapped, their backs to the sea on a high cliff.

Realizing that they couldn't escape, the parents looked into each other's eyes, then turned towards their daughter, smiling.

The daughter was shaking, knowing that death was approaching, but her parents patted her head and comforted her. She was too young to realize her parents were planning on sacrificing themselves to save her.

With a shove and a silent wish for their daughters safety, the parents pushed their daughter from the lip of the cliff and into the sea. They stayed put as the monsters approached, knowing that if they were to follow their daughter into the sea, the monsters would pursue them and kill all three. By offering up their bodies to the hoard, their daughter might yet have a chance at survival.

The daughter screamed as she plummeted into the sea. The last sight she would ever have of her parents was their smiling faces as the Three Headed Dog bore down on them.

Luckily, the daughter washed up on a nearby shore, and by the time she did, the wave had come to an end. The adventurers and knights of the kingdom having beaten back the calamity. She made her way back to the cliff, the fields of her home littered with eviscerated bodies and bones.

Only to find some blood and strips of flesh. What little remained of her parents.

Something snapped inside of the daughter that day. She'd lost everything but her life, so she resolved to live her life to the fullest.

Unfortunately, disaster was followed by betrayal. The knights of the realm once tasked with defending them captured the surviving denizens of the demi-human village, selling them off as slaves.

Eventually, the daughter ended up in the hands of the Slave Trader. She bounced around from home to home, her trauma and the nightmares she woke up from screaming in the night making the people who bought her return her to the Slave Trader in short order. Every buyer was crueler than the last and the daughter, despite her resolve, was being worn down. When she fell ill, she took it as a sign that she was meant to die.

That was until, by some miracle, she was bought by a stern, but kind master. The Hero of the Shield.


"…And that's how we ended up meeting, Shirou, Naofumi-sama."

"I see," Naofumi muttered. She was stronger than he'd figured. The Wave itself was the source of her trauma, or, to be more precise, the monsters that had been spawned by it. And yet, she was still able to fight with the bare minimum of encouragement. She had a teammate she could fall back on and his own formidable Defense to keep her safe, yes, but it was impressive all the same. The bests of environments to thrive were meaningless without the resolve to improve.

Shirou had fallen silent, still kneeling besides Raphtalia. He, too, had once been caught up in a disaster that had cost him his family, but he both could and couldn't really relate. That trauma of that day, that terrible fire, was always with him, but it had also led to memory loss. Unlike Raphtalia, he couldn't remember what he had lost. There were painful memories, yes, but they weren't underscored by the good things it had cost him. That part was just a blank to him. That could be better or worse, depending on who you ask.

"Raphtalia," Naofumi led out a deep, heavy breath. "I get that you are scared. And as I said before, it's cruel for me to force you to fight, but…"

"GRRR!"

At the deep growl behind him, Naofumi cut himself off and spun around. The Two Headed Black Dog had finally chased them down. It slinked towards them, hackles raised and angry.

Shirou immediately got up, knife bared as he stepped in front of Raptalia. Said girl both trembled and stumbled back as the Two Headed Black Dog closed the distance, eyes sunken in fear.

"You can step back if you want, Raphtalia," Naofumi said.

"W-What?!"

"Me and Shirou can take on this monster just fine. If you think you can't fight, then don't."

"That's right, Raphtalia. You can trust us to deal with this. Get to safety," Shirou backed him up

"But, I can't just… run away… running away was what got everyone… my parents… but me killed," she murmured.

"Raphtalia, no matter what you do now, be it fighting or running away, your parents can never come back. Realize that," Naofumi said. Raphtalia recoiled at the blunt words like she had been slapped. "All you can do now is look towards the future. If you want to run, then run. If you want to fight, then fight. But if you chose to fight, you can help other kids. Stop them from ending up like you, to stop the same travesties that made you a slave in the first place!"

Naofumi knew it was a poor argument. He was a slave owner. He was the last person to argue about saving other people from the cruelties of slavery, nor did he care about helping random strangers. He just wanted to survive, go home and leave this rotten world behind. A selfish desire, but in service of that desire, he would do his best to encourage the people who could help him attain it.

He had done the same for Shirou, after all.

"I…"

The Two Headed Black dog didn't give Raphtalia long to ponder Naofumi's words. It pounced towards them, claws raised and fangs gleaming.

Naofumi met its charge with one of his own. They met with a bang, the Two Headed Black Dog stopped cold in its tracks, even as it tried to sink its claws and fangs into Naofumi, but the halfhearted attacks from a bad position had no hope of harming Naofumi.

Shirou swung around the monster's side, knife plunging into the side of its belly.

The Two Headed Black Dog yipped in pain and disengaged from Naofumi, spinning around with speed that startled all of them. It's whip-like tail slashed Shirou's face with surprising force, unable as he was to make sufficient distance.

Shirou cried out as his face snapped to the side, his entire body contorting as he fell to the ground.

"No!" Raphtalia murmured as the Two Headed Black Dog pounced towards the defenseless Shirou, as he looked up at monster bearing down on him.

"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi shouted. The Skill took effect, a green, translucent shield appearing in the Two Headed Dog's path.

It slammed into it with bone jarring force, but the shield held strong.

Shirou quickly scrambled for distance as the their foe stepped back, shaking both its heads in pain.

"Don't hesitate!" Naofumi shouted, moving forward with his shield raised. "I'll protect you as best as I am able! I'll make sure there will be openings to exploit!"

The words were meant for Shirou, but Raphtalia heard it loud and clear all the same. She gripped her knife in a white-knuckle grip, even as the involuntary trembling of her body had stopped.

I don't…

Emboldened by Naofumi's actions and words, Shirou followed in lockstep behind him. The Shield Hero slammed full force into the Two Headed Black Dog, sending it sprawling onto its side. Naofumi held it down as Shirou descended on it, his knife plunging into the beast again and again, trying to down it as quickly as possible.

Want the people…

The Two Headed Black Dog, however, was made from sterner stuff than the Blotted Viper. It roared, loud enough to produce a minor shockwave that was visible and dislodged both Naofumi and Shirou from it.

Both of them rolled with it, tumbling across the ground as they tried to make as much distance as they possibly could. The Two Headed Black Dog was agile and as quick as a dime on its feet, they had realized this, but even then they were surprised at the speed it displayed.

The muscles in the monster's legs coiled and sprung like a loaded spring as it pounced after the just recovering Naofumi, knocking the Shield Hero back over onto his back.

Who always protect me…

The fangs of the Two Headed Black Dogs sank into Naofumi's shoulder. A gasp escaped him.

To be hurt! I don't want them to leave me!

Raphtalia leaped, the Leveling she had done and the adrenaline in her system imparting superhuman strength into her limbs. She flew up above the tangled pair on the ground and slammed down on one of the heads of the Two Headed Dog. Her knife plunged through its skull.

The one head went limp, the other gave an unholy screech and threw Raphtalia away from it. Even as the monster released Naofumi in its panic, one of its heads dead and limp, it immediately zeroed in on the one that had harmed it so grievously.

The knife Raphtalia had been wielding had broken in the rough tumble, the blade lying in chunks beside her. She grabbed the largest piece, uncaring as the cutting edge bit into the palm of her hand and spilled her blood. She took hold of it firmly and lunged back towards the monster.

The Two Headed Black dog lunged to meet her, enraged, one head dead and the other roaring like the mad beast it was.

Unfortunately for it, it had lost sight of its other opponents. From the side a thrown knife pierced the monster's left front paw, making the Two Headed Black Dog stumble in its charge. "Do it, now, Raphtalia!" Shirou shouted, hand still outstretched from his picture perfect throw.

The Two Headed Black Dog snarled at her approach.

Raphtalia didn't need to be told twice, undaunted. She reached the wobbled Two Headed Black Dog and jumped, the broken knife ramming through the roof of its slobbering mouth, as she stabbed with all the force she could muster. A spurt of blood and brain matter coated the blade as it emerged from the top of the monster's head.

The Two Headed Black Dog didn't even make a sound. It just fell over, dead.

Raphtalia landed on her feet, but immediately collapsed to her knees, out of breath and once again trembling. Then, a laugh escaped her. She… she had done it! She had killed that which had been haunting her in her nightmares for weeks.

More importantly she'd succeeded in protecting Naofumi-sama… Just like he was always protecting her.

"Well done, Raphtalia."

"Naofumi-sama… I'm glad you weren't hurt…"

Raphtalia looked up, a watery, but true smile on her face as Naofumi approached, a hand on his shoulder. He removed it as he approached, revealing that, while his clothes had been ripped, his skin had remained unmarred. Even the Two Headed Black Dog hadn't had the Attack required to defeat Naofumi's Defense. She had been working herself up over nothing, but, as she looked at the corpse of the Two Headed Black Dog and her master, she felt much lighter, as if an invisible burden had been removed from her shoulders.

I want to hold you close…and keep you safe.

"I told both of you this once already. I defend, you attack. Like this, all of us will be walking away from danger in one piece."

"Yes," she said, taking his hand and being pulled to her feet.

"That was really amazing, Raphtalia," Shirou exclaimed. "I didn't know you had such good aim."

"I could say the same to you," Raphtalia giggled, feeling refreshed.

Naofumi clapped his hands once, gathering their attention. "Okay, we'll take a short breather for now and then we'll explore the rest of the dungeon. If there are any stragglers that dog left behind, we will deal with them and then mine some ore."

Raphtalia and Shirou nodded.

"But first, Shirou, would you Project a replacement knife for Raphtalia? I'll butcher the remains of this monster in the meantime."


Requirement met: [Two Headed Black Dog Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 20 – Equip Bonus: [Alert Shield] (unmastered]

Special Ability: Dog Bite (attack)

Requirement met: [Light Metal Shield Unlocked – Base Defense: 35 – Equip Bonus: Defense +8, (unmastered]

Special Ability: Magic Nullification (medium)


I'm sure that some of you must be wondering why Naofumi didn't take any damage from the Two Headed Black Dog like he did in canon. It's pretty simple, really. He has much more mastered weapon forms than in canon, so his Stats are much higher even if he has the same Level. Besides that, he wasn't using the Rope Shield with its low base Defense since he already had the Air Strike Shield Skill mastered.